Spider-Man: No Way Home made major changes to the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s multiverse and to Peter Parker’s (Tom Holland) life, as he’s now all alone, but a theory gives a hopeful twist to MJ’s (Zendaya) No Way Home ending and Spider-Man’s future in Spider-Man 4 as well. After a chaotic multiversal battle in Spider-Man: No Way Home, the only way to stop it was to make the whole world forget Peter Parker, and so the young hero was left all alone at the end and starting over from scratch. However, the extent and details of the spell, cast successfully by Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), remain mostly unknown, making way for a lot of theories and speculation.

Peter had a couple of minutes to explain what the spell was about to MJ and Ned (Jacob Batalon) and promised to find them again, but at the end of No Way Home, Peter couldn’t gather the courage to reintroduce himself. The new post-credits scene in No Way Home showed that the details of the spell are more confusing than initially believed, as Peter still appears in old photos, but he’s either not facing the camera or something is covering his face. It has also been theorized that the characters outside Earth still remember Peter, but a new theory gives a hopeful twist to No Way Home’s ending by suggesting another way in which MJ might already remember Peter.

Related: MCU Better Explained No Way Home's Ending Spell & Made Peter's Fate Darker

MCU Theory: MJ Remembers Peter Parker Through Dreams

MJ working in a diner in Spider-Man No Way Home

A theory shared by New Rockstars (via CBR) suggests that MJ might remember Peter Parker thanks to the concept of dreams and dreamwalking introduced in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. At the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home, when Peter visits MJ at her job, she seems to have some sort of deja vu when interacting with him, but she doesn’t remember him at all. The theory explains this brief moment by suggesting MJ has seen Peter in her dreams, thus why he seemed vaguely familiar to her but not enough for her to recognize him and be aware that they already know each other.

How Do Dreams Work In The MCU?

Elizabeth Olsen as Scarlet Witch in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness floating above candles

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness went deeper into the dangers and chaos of the multiverse following the mess created by Spider-Man and Strange in Spider-Man: No Way Home, and it introduced new concepts into the MCU. Among those is dreamwalking, a spell within the Darkhold that allowed sorcerers to possess another counterpart of themselves from another part of the multiverse and thus live as them in another universe. As part of this, Multiverse of Madness explained that dreams are actually glimpses into the multiverse, meaning that when a character had a dream or nightmare in the MCU, they were most likely looking at their life in another part of the multiverse.

This gave a whole new meaning to the visions Wanda presented to the Avengers in Avengers: Age of Ultron and other dreams other characters had mentioned before in the MCU, but it could also be used as a solution for some current problems. MJ, then, might have had a dream in which she saw herself from another universe in which she’s still with Peter Parker, thus why he seemed familiar to her without actually knowing him (according to her, at least). While this makes the whole “not remembering Peter Parker” situation a lot sadder, it also gives some hope that MJ (and Ned) will eventually remember Peter again.

Will MJ Remember Peter Parker In Spider-Man 4?

MJ says goodbye to Peter at the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home.

That brief moment of deja vu from MJ at the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home has made way for various theories on how she will remember him, while others claim that MJ still remembers Peter. The latter is supported by one part in the Spider-Man: No Way Home script that reads “HOLD ON MJ, watching Peter go off with a lingering sense of… recognition?”, so it’s believed by some that Strange could have included a loophole in the spell for MJ to remember Peter at some point, as he knew well how important she is to Peter – after all, she was the first name Peter mentioned when he botched the first spell.

Related: Why Peter Didn't Keep His Promise To MJ In No Way Home's Ending

That specific part of the script gives hope for MJ (and Ned too, possibly) remembering Peter Parker in the upcoming Spider-Man 4, and while it would be too soon to undo the spell, it was also too soon to end their relationship, as they had just gotten together at the end of Spider-Man: Far From Home. While MJ not remembering Peter makes way for the introduction of other characters like Gwen Stacy and Felicia Hardy, MJ needs to return and regain her memories in order to avoid becoming yet another loose thread in the MCU.

Next: No Way Home Twist Allows For A New Character To Show Up In Spider-Man 4

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